LOANEES WERE TARGETS BEFORE

Boss says Blues made move for new recruits before as Town look for foothold in Championship

Paul Jewell has told Ipswich Player that many of his loan signings were players he tried to sign before the transfer window closed.

Blues have eight loanees in the squad now and while accepting it’s far from ideal, the Town boss felt the Club’s position in the table dictated he had to strengthen his squad.

“I know it’s not what we wanted, to have so many loan players in but a lot of the players we have brought in, we tried to get earlier,” Paul told Ipswich Player.

“It was difficult to bring players to the Club before the window closed at the end of August. There were many factors for that, that clubs would not let them go, that we could not afford the transfer fees, or we could not afford the wages.

“There were lots of reasons but when the window closed, we were left with the loan market as the only option. So we looked at it. It was obvious the squad needed improving but do we go with what we had and not go down the loan route, or try and improve the squad.

“I believe we have improved the squad tremendously by bringing in the players we have.

“Bringing through our younger players is still what we want to do but we need to get a foothold in this division and sometimes you need experienced players to make that happen.”

Subscribers to Ipswich Player can watch the full interview with Paul now.